Mexican BBQ

During my last hour of sleep I had one of those strange, stressful dreams where I found myself in harms way after trying to escape undetected from some industrial-like compound. For an instant, I felt my life was in jeopardy. Suddenly, I woke and realized it was just a dream and that I was OK. I glanced at the clock only to realize that it was 5:30am on the nose and time to get up. I did so, gladly. Downstairs I started my exercise routine. Just as I began, I heard Rocky calling for me. He marched down the stairs asking for orange juice and telling me how bad he felt. Poor little guy. I stopped my sit-ups to get him what he asked for. While doing so, he started throwing up on the ceramic tile floor. Whoa! Luckily, it was nothing more than stomach juices, but that was still bad enough. I tried to encourage him to go back to bed but he didn’t want to. He said he felt better. He plopped down in the over-sized chair in the familyroom. Before getting back to my exercise routine I let Ykraps out of his pen, which is where I left him overnight after catching him peeing on one of our houseplants late last evening (already covered in Monday’s blog). Back to my exercise regiment. Today was a curl day. After curls, I leashed up Ykraps and headed outdoors. It was chilly, but warmer than the prior two mornings. It was also snowing, but we weren’t expecting any additional accumulation. Back inside, I poured two coffees and took Mindy hers before enjoying my own. She was still sleeping when I delivered but woke right on queue. She asked how I felt. I shared that my middle back was a little stiff. I went back downstairs to carry on with my agenda. I sipped coffee and read the Daily OM before moving on to meditation. Rocky watched on in silence. I pretended he wasn’t there. I scared the begeezies out of him when I did the morning levitation thing. J kidding!! I checked the forecast just before heading out. We were expecting up to an inch of snow with periods of very heavy snow. They were dead on! It was already snowing pretty hard. It was wet snow. I set out for my run by 6:32am. I still had to stretch, however. I did so from the front stoop. The fresh snow made for some nice padding. I finished my run later than usual. Footing was tricky which slowed me considerably. Mindy had my scrambled eggs ready but still on the stove. She was minutes from departing by the time I sat down to eat. Rocky was too ill to attend school but his fever was down. We decided to send him to Grandma Sharon’s rather than stay home. The other option, of course, was to take him over to Lindsey’s (Kelly’s). Mindy was a bit overwhelmed this morning to say the least. It’s rare but this morning she was short with everyone. I understand. Keeping the ship assail for six is not an easy proposition. Believe it or not, I have my days too. Jacob and I headed to the bus stop at 7:58am. We took the football. Each time one of the boys dropped a pass the ball became caked in wet, sticky snow. It was getting messy. Keeping in mind Mindy’s situation, I did a couple of things I thought would make her afternoon arrival home smoother/easier. For one, I shoveled the drive since the weather forecast called for warming temps and then a big drop. I didn’t want her to come home to an icy driveway. Two, I unloaded the clean dishes from the dishwasher. Gas was still $1.85 this morning, but I needed none. Work was well under control which allowed me to manage/lead more proactively. I liked that. And for the first time in a long while, I took a formal lunch break. During my lunch I drove to Sawmill rd and stopped in Sports Authority & Dick’s to look at new ski pants and gloves. I want a good pair of ski pants – completely waterproof. Plus, by having a second pair I could quickly change into another pair if the conditions get damp at Holiday Valley next week. The Inn is at the foot of the lifts making changing clothes easy. Gotta love that. I have $100 worth of Dick’s gift cards, so my preference was to find some there. Still, I planned to price compare. Dick’s had a far greater selection, but sadly none in my preferred color (black) and size. Also, they had plenty in the less expensive, water resistant type, but I wanted better than that. I decided to hold off until checking yet another Dick’s for exactly what I want. I may get Mindy a second pair, too. I was gone for just over an hour. Meanwhile, the temperature was already sinking. It was already in the low 20s and the wind was kicking up. It was cold! I was at work until just after 5:30pm. Meanwhile, the weather was all the buzz. We’re expecting sub zero temperatures by Thursday, and that’s before windchill. Yikes! Mindy reported that Rocky was feeling much better and was up playing with the Jacob & Bella. That was encouraging news. Mindy left it up to me what we’d have for dinner. I chose tacos over burgers. Love ‘em. As soon as I walked in the house the smoke alarms went off. The kids were going crazy. Oh dear! What now? Mindy started a fire but forgot to check the chimney flue, which I closed the other day to stop the cold down draft. I could smell smoke instatly, but apparently she couldn’t, most likely because of the equally heavy taco meat smell. I turned off the gas to the logs and opened the flue. Crisis avoided. As you might expect, it took a few minutes for the alarm to stop. As soon as it did, I took Ykrap on his nightly walk. The smell of smoke was almost overwhelming after walking in from outdoors. Because of the tacos, the house smelt like a Mexican outdoor barbeque. :) Everyone else was already enjoying their food while I prepped my tacos. I made two to start, but ended up eating four. They’re small. Mindy still buys the little shells. I probably could’ve eaten a couple more. She made this Mexican rice, too. It had a unique flavor – not tomato based. It was some sort of pepper, I think. Anyway, it was very good. I did clean-up while Mindy got the kids organized. Before PJs, the kids put on a free concert in the basement. Let's just say, it's good thing it was free. We had the house cleaned up and the kids in pajamas much earlier than the night before, thankfully. After tucking in the children we tuned into opening night of American Idol – season 8. Very entertaining.